Mama Star / Ready Aim Fire! - (Star vs the Forces of Evil Season 4 Episode 18) - 'Toon Reviews 38

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Mama Star

One thing to work in the favor this show’s desire to be silly and random is that there’s a place where acting that way makes total sense, and that’s the Realm of Magic.  This episode makes going through there completely necessary as it’s the only way Star and her friends can make it back to Mewni in this time of crisis.  Along the way, there are much broader perspectives on the place, especially with it being effected by what Mewni is currently going through.  

Starting things off though is a random act that you can’t help but question the validity of.  Now that Star and her friends have found the well that connects Earth to the Realm of Magic, they think it’s a good idea to throw garbage down there to attract the firstborn unicorn.  In the process, Marco does draw an interesting conclusion that the first Mewmans were actually humans from murals, but that sadly goes nowhere.  While the whole garbage plan is ridiculous, it does lead to interesting character reveals and moments.  The firstborn appears, and shows strict annoyance and backbone which is a refreshing break from her calm elegant appearance in her prior appearances.  Oskar Greason gets some surprise credibility by going along with Star’s plan by letting her and the others borrow his car to get through the Realm of Magic.  He’s not even the slightest bit unmoved by how crazy Star’s story sounds.  

The firstborn is still firm about not wanting Star and her friends to have anything to do with the Realm of Magic, but this brings a shining moment for Star.  As she originally created the firstborn, she has the power to discipline her like she’s her daughter, and has the unicorn pull her and her friends to the well to Mewni, the car like a carriage.  The firstborn does say she can just send them to Mewni with her horn, but Star is also firm with making that not happen, remembering how this move separated her from her mom.  Along the way, Star, who’s had actual experience with the Realm of Magic, is the one to warn everyone of when the place is going to make them lose their memories.  

Despite her warnings though, they’re all hit hard with its anesthetic qualities, and soon they’re reduced to the strange big-eyed fools with no idea what to do.  They all question what they’re doing, have no idea what certain things are, and basically just mess about much to the annoyance of the firstborn.  There are at least a few things to make them stand out.  Marco goes on a long-winded speech about what he wants, ending with a claim that he flat out loves Star, which she hears before her memory goes.  Tom has the most memorable gag when everyone’s deprived of memories when he goes on fire which blows off the entire car off its chassis.  He then questions if he’s even supposed to be on fire, and is even left behind as the episode ends.  Janna doesn’t have nearly as impactful moments in this instance apart from taking interest in little unicorns that turn dark as they’re consumed by a strange dark puddle.  This brings on a cute scene of her bringing a bunch of them for Star and Marco to raise as a family together.  As for the presence of the dark magic, it’s the effects of a much darker unicorn, which raises the stakes over all these memory deprived teens.  In fact, it gets so bad, the firstborn, the only one able to keep her memories intact, has to use her horn to send them away after all.  

While characters mindlessly goof around like this can get uncomfortable, the few standout moments and drama from a light-hearted setup can’t be overlooked.

A-

Ready Aim Fire!

It’s kind of crazy how well the end of the last episode and the start of this episode blend into each other.  The firstborn unicorn’s magic did indeed separate Star and her friends by having them wake up in different parts of Mewni.  However, the way they wake up one by one makes for a brilliant transition considering that they all lost their memories while in the Realm of Magic.  Ultimately, this turns out to be the best way to lead into the rest of the episode that comes off as one big all-out battle.  

As for the places Star, Marco, and Janna end up in, they surprisingly have a strong connection to their roles on Mewni and the characters are each given insight on what’s going on.  Marco, for instance, ends up in the lint catcher of Butterfly Castle’s laundry room which was where his role as a squire began.  In addition to coming full circle with his role on this dimension, he uncovers major information.  The Magic High Commission talks about excitement over overthrowing Eclipsa with Rhombulus accepted on the team as if his treason never happened.  While this makes them look more dense and bad than they already are, it is refreshing that Hekapoo has genuine concern over this plan.  This is because the one apparently in charge of the oncoming attack is Mina Loveberry, the crazy sole surviving Solarian warrior.  She mans a large suit of armor and sets off.  Then Star is seen waking up in the shed where Doop-Doop lives on the outskirts of her parents’ yurt village.  When Moon finds her, she’s desperate to keep her daughter safe, but isn’t quick to argue against Star’s decision to help Eclipsa.  However, it makes an upcoming reveal even harder to swallow than it already is.  

Surprisingly, the character who lands in the place most direct to the issue is Janna.  She wakes up in Meteora’s room in the new Monster Temple, probably because of her previously established role as Meteora’s babysitter.  Showing up here allows her to see the entire battle firsthand as Eclipsa and Globgor set out to face the invading Solarian warrior.  Among the effects of this battle is a wound Globgor gets from a mystical fire sword that is treated as more severe than battle wounds tend to be.  Considering how well he utilized his shapeshifting against the warrior before getting struck, it’s commendable that he’s still willing to fight.  However, emphasis is put on how bad the pain is as he can’t even get up properly, and everyone insists he stay in and rest despite how much he wants to keep going.  There are even implied dire consequences to this wound as Eclipsa show’s somber awareness to its association with the Solarian warriors.  

From there, it’s all Eclipsa’s show as she takes on the Solarian Warrior alone wand in hand.  All throughout, it goes to show how awesome a character she truly is.  For how much she does what she does for her and her family, she has a lot of vigor to protect her entire kingdom.  She’s willing to hit the warrior with a bunch of dark spells, many of which used in the finale to Season 3.  Despite they’re power, they barely give a dent, and the episode even ends with her on the verge of her demise.  That’s just a chilling way to make the audience fear what will happen, and with Eclipsa’s genuine bravery against the threat, these feelings are completely earned.  

It’s just a grand-scale battle with expert staging, and approaches that consider the serious potential repercussions, making for a season highlight.

A+

The Ranking

1.      Cornonation

2.      The Monster and the Queen

3.      Ready Aim Fire!

4.      Gone Baby Gone

5.      Escape from the Pie Folk

6.      Meteora’s Lesson

7.      Swim Suit

8.      Cornball!

9.      Yada Yada Berries

10.  Moon Remembers

11.  Jannanigans

12.  Beach Day

13.  Britta’s Tacos

14.  Junkin’ Janna

15.  Queen-Napped

16.  Ghost of Butterfly Castle

17.  The Knight Shift

18.  Ransomgram

19.  Mama Star

20.  Butterfly Follies

21.  Kelly’s World

22.  A Boy and His DC-700XE

23.  Surviving the Spiderbites

24.  A Spell With No Name

25.  Princess Quasar Caterpillar and the Magic Bell

26.  Down By the River

27.  Out of Business

28.  Lake House Fever

29.  Doop-Doop

30.  The Ponyhead Show

31.  The Curse of the Blood Moon

32.  Sad Teen Hotline

Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next episode where Star and her friends help the fun of the battle continue, and Moon comes to help only to later kill all the potential greatness with a very disturbing reveal.

If you would like to check out other Star vs the Forces of Evil reviews on this blog, click here for the guide made especially for them.

Sad Teen Hotline / Jannanigans - (Star vs the Forces of Evil Season 4 Episode 17) - 'Toon Reviews 38

If you like this review and want to stay updated for what else I have in store, become a follower of this blog, click here to like the official Facebook page, and click here to follow me on Twitter. Now on with today's review:

Sad Teen Hotline

When it comes to romance, at this point, it’s very easy to see that the narrative is pushing to get Star and Marco together.  Right from their conversation in “The Curse of the Blood Moon” you can tell that even if they’re intending to not fall in love with each other, their love is becoming more natural.  This is fine, but then you consider what it’s doing to other couples that had their own potential too.  Ever since Season 3, Star has healthily rekindled her old love with Tom, and they’ve gotten along well as a couple.  Then everything had to change once Marco kissed Star, and Tom had to find out about it from Marco while Star told him nothing about the event.  This was an unfortunate sign that such a good couple would have to be compromised for another no matter how charming that other couple seemed to be.  The only positive to this has been Tom taking it well and holding his word to not get so upset.  

So, with this episode, it’s impressive that he takes the initiative to tell Star that they don’t work very well as a couple and that they should break up.  While this is a sensible conclusion, it’s bogged down by several story decisions.  For one thing, lots of things are majorly dragged out, such as how long it takes Tom to tell Star about his feelings.  He’s constantly drowned out by a helicopter making it impossible for Star to hear, so she has to freeze the helicopter in place.  I don’t know if it’s funny or disturbing that the police notice this later on.  

As for the break-up, when Tom does finally talk about it, things continue to go on longer than necessary.  He goes to the extreme measure of saying that he and Star can’t even be friends at this point and proceeds to leave.  However, his fire powers prevent him from going back to the underworld, and even Star is unable to help him with her butterfly powers.  For much of the runtime, they’re both under the impression that their emotions over the breakup are keeping their magic from working.  Things only become more convoluted when the cops and Marco’s parents get involved and try to do something about it.  This part is mildly funny, but the appeal is lessened by the fact that they’re barging in on a matter they really no nothing about and no one brings that up.  

By the time Star and Tom have a heart to heart about their emotions, it’s kind of easy to tell that their inability to use their powers isn’t really because of that.  All throughout, they don’t seem that saddened by the break-up, and if they are, it’s not done convincingly.  It’s also at this point where you feel that it should have happened in “Doop-Doop” when Tom saw that Star didn’t have herself figured out, even when with him.  That would have been a perfect episode to end their relationship without leading to this dragged out mess.  At least at the end when it’s discovered that a supernatural force is preventing them from using their powers, the stakes are nicely raised for the rest of the season.  Just Star telling Tom and Marco that they have to go back to Mewni is all the excitement that’s needed.  

However, that doesn’t shake off the fact that this episode is built upon a frivolous topic that specializes in making scenes go on longer than they should.  Apart from a few good moments, it’s a work that’s largely inconsequential except for the end.

D+

Jannanigans

It’s surprising how big a role Janna has played in Season 4.  After being portrayed solely as one of Star’s Earth friends and offering minor assistance in big episodes for so long, she’s practically become a mainstay.  I mean, she’s the only human besides Marco who’s spent a long time on Mewni, even if a lot of her roles were mostly to add to the fun.  Considering that messing around is in her nature, it would have been acceptable if her just randomly showing up on Mewni was left as a joke.  However, this episode goes the extra mile by making it a plot point to figure out how she came there with Mewni in trouble and Star and her friends needing to get there fast.  

The quest to get answers out of Janna make for something very insightful and substantial to her character highlight the fun aspects, but also the more human and endearing ones.  She’s first seen doing something completely random by collecting spare parts at a monster truck graveyard for some unknown reason.  When Star and the others ask her about how she got to Mewni, she nonchalantly says she doesn’t know.  In the typical fashion of Janna, she seems like she’s in her own world and doesn’t take everyone’s urgency seriously.  All she can do is take them through the motions of what she usually does on Thursdays, which was the day she remembers coming to Mewni.  This leads to a collection of many random tasks that make Janna really stand out from the crowds.  Apparently on Thursdays, she feeds her neighbor’s possums, goes to an alley to get a new hat from a knitting street urchin, and grabs tennis balls from a court to pay for the hat.  It’s a random collection of moments that are naturally funny as they work to Janna’s unpredictable nature.  

However, in a story like this, it’s best for characters to not be based on funny randomness alone, and this is where Janna stands out.  When confronted about not knowing how she got to Mewni, she feels sad about this circumstance, wishing she could help.  This turns out to be Janna’s most human portrayal to date, and it’s great that a lingering threat to Mewni is what brings this on.  For that, it becomes rewarding when Janna slowly does realize details behind her sudden appearance on Mewni during lunch at Britta’s Tacos.  The gang discovers that she’s wearing a t-shirt that was actually the prize Marco was trying to win, thus jogging a few more memories.  

There are reveals to much more deviant behavior in line with Janna’s character as she reveals that she straight-up stole the shirt, revealing many strange instances.  When they all enter the employee room of the place, there’s a secret passage leading down.  In addition to what looks like murals of flowing magic, there’s also something filled with a glowing liquid substance.  Upon investigation, Star discovers background of the covering containing hand prints.  Those prints are the very ones left by her and Moon as they were messing around in wells of the Realm of Magic in the finale to Season 3.  Ultimately, they all end up finding their way to Mewni as the episode ends, which becomes even better for Janna’s sake as she turns out to be a valuable asset after all.  

So the end builds up to grand events for the rest of the season in what turns out to be a look into the real Janna as someone who’s truly here for more than just joking around.

A

The Ranking

1.      Cornonation

2.      The Monster and the Queen

3.      Gone Baby Gone

4.      Escape from the Pie Folk

5.      Meteora’s Lesson

6.      Swim Suit

7.      Cornball!

8.      Yada Yada Berries

9.      Moon Remembers

10.  Jannanigans

11.  Beach Day

12.  Britta’s Tacos

13.  Junkin’ Janna

14.  Queen-Napped

15.  Ghost of Butterfly Castle

16.  The Knight Shift

17.  Ransomgram

18.  Butterfly Follies

19.  Kelly’s World

20.  A Boy and His DC-700XE

21.  Surviving the Spiderbites

22.  A Spell With No Name

23.  Princess Quasar Caterpillar and the Magic Bell

24.  Down By the River

25.  Out of Business

26.  Lake House Fever

27.  Doop-Doop

28.  The Ponyhead Show

29.  The Curse of the Blood Moon

30.  Sad Teen Hotline

Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next episode where Star and the gang go through the Realm of Magic to get to Mewni, and the plot to save Mewni starts with an awesome battle with a giant warrior.

If you would like to check out other Star vs the Forces of Evil reviews on this blog, click here for the guide made especially for them.

Beach Day / Gone Baby Gone - (Star vs the Forces of Evil Season 4 Episode 16) - 'Toon Reviews 38

If you like this review and want to stay updated for what else I have in store, become a follower of this blog, click here to like the official Facebook page, and click here to follow me on Twitter. Now on with today's review:

Beach Day

I, for one, consider it an interesting reveal that the often-seen photo of Star and Marco at the beach was meant to symbolize something happening in the future.  Having that be Star’s motivation to not give up in her times of turmoil makes what was meant to be viewed as a scene of two characters having fun have more merit.  They tried making it happen earlier in this season, but that was at a time when there was still a lot of important matters to deal with.  Now with Star relieved of all royal duties and deciding to go back to Earth, she’s all set up to make her special beach day with Marco a reality at last.  A few signs of a swimsuit, beach ball, and instant camera help too.  

What follows is not just charming, but also plays out in ways most people probably wouldn’t expect.  When Star and Marco set out for the beach, it’s not uncommon to think that while they plan for the day to be awesome, they run into several difficulties on the way.  After all, that tends to be the case in real life and in other stories with this type of setup.  As it turns out, a lot of things go wrong for them on the way to the beach, but they always find a way around them.  They get stuck in traffic, so Star uses her magic to get the taxi cab to fly over it all.  The mad driver drops them off in the middle of nowhere, and Star’s cloud spell refuses to fly in smog, but they’re led to the beach by a seagull.  

So really, the hardships don’t last long, and even when Star realizes she left the camera behind, she and Marco still have a genuinely fun time at the beach.  Who would have thought that in a show specializing in lore and magic, one of the nicest moments would just be these kids living it up on a beach?  

As for that photo, it would be easy to suggest that all of Star’s predictions of today being the specific beach day are overreactions.  However, thanks to an old woman taking pictures of nice scenes on the beach, it turns out she was actually right.  The moment the exact same photo comes out, that’s when it’s clear that today was beach day after all.  Even for how crazed Star was to name this beach day as the one, it’s impressive that she turned out to be accurate.  

There is a twist to all this though as Star finds that she’s not nearly as happy as she feels she should be.  For that, she goes to the interdimensional being who gave her the photo in the first place, Father Time, and confronts him about her lack of extreme happiness.  He points out that it wasn’t him who gave her the photo, but a future version of Star who wanted her past self to help her get through so many hardships in her life.  Rather than trying to get Star’s hopes up for nothing, it was all just an attempt for Star to have something fun to look forward to.  Considering how much drama filled the show starting with Season 3, I’d say it was a smart move.  That said, you can’t help but wonder if there exists a timeline where the beach day was actually more impactful to Star than it was here.  At least things are still kept exciting as Father Time silently points out that worse moments in Star’s life are yet to come.  

For now, it’s nice that Star and Marco end their beach day on a high note with a flying shopping cart ride home.  It makes this episode a wholesome series highlight with several twists to most expectations.

A

Gone Baby Gone

Marco’s family dynamic was bound to shift when it was first announced that his parents were having another baby.  Now with the birth of Mariposa, you’d think that all there’d be of that is the usual cuteness expected from new babies.  Then this episode subverts these expectations with a creative interdimensional adventure stemming from Marco looking after her and baby Meteora.  

Just after he gets them to sleep, he’s visited by Hekapoo and warned that dangerous magical business is going down in other dimensions, hinting at what’s to come near the season’s end.  The main point in this case though is that Hekapoo advises Marco to stay on Earth, and it’s clear that he’d listen to the order if not for one crucial factor.  Hekapoo left her portal to Earth open, and since Mariposa and Meteora are not in their cribs, they no doubt went through there.  Knowing what being in Hekapoo’s dimension will do to their age, Star and Marco rush in to go after them.  

This story direction reveals an interesting dynamic resulting from the two babies going into a place where time works differently.  Mariposa and Meteora have grown up to become honorary sisters looking out for each other while dwelling in a cave at the top of a mountain.  It also gives a good look at what they look like as teens or at least preteens.  That’s interesting enough for Mariposa though considering that we’ve already seen Meteora at different ages prior to learning her background.  Their lives are basically redefined as a result of living in this world.  They have different names, grow up as warriors defending their turf, and Mariposa doesn’t believe Marco at all when he says he’s her brother.  

Even when it seems like they’re trusting of him and Star, they have the gall to drug them with a special soup.  When they’re down, they plan on sacrificing them to a wizard called Wyscan who has the power to make Mariposa just as capable in battle as Meteora by granting her magic.  Once she’s close to achieving her goal though, Mariposa begins to doubt her decision, showing that she does have a heart on situations.  She’s willing to vouch for him and hold off her own desires for magic, particularly when Wyscan declares he wants to eat Marco and Star.  This brings on a battle against a wizard so powerful yet also very flamboyant.  

Now, even though Mariposa is willing to help Marco, she still won’t believe he’s her brother.  As an interesting measure to finally convince her, Marco notices a tiny finger puppet around Mariposa’s neck.  He puts his finger in it and recites the end of a story he told her at the episode’s start.  This believably inspires Mariposa to fight harder against Wyscan, though he basically just retreats and isn’t actually defeated, even if she is victorious.  I could also say that the way Star and Marco convince Mariposa and Meteora to come home is a tad shallow.  It makes sense that they’re too used to their interdimensional life to return to Earth, but all it takes is a mention of food to get them to come back.  Even more endearing is a promise to have them both to grow up together if they come back, as is the ending where they return to being babies and Marco bids them good night.  

Overall though, this episode is also one of the strongest of the season, bringing together atmospheric alternate realities, and the adorable nature of infants.

A+

The Ranking

1.      Cornonation

2.      The Monster and the Queen

3.      Gone Baby Gone

4.      Escape from the Pie Folk

5.      Meteora’s Lesson

6.      Swim Suit

7.      Cornball!

8.      Yada Yada Berries

9.      Moon Remembers

10.  Beach Day

11.  Britta’s Tacos

12.  Junkin’ Janna

13.  Queen-Napped

14.  Ghost of Butterfly Castle

15.  The Knight Shift

16.  Ransomgram

17.  Butterfly Follies

18.  Kelly’s World

19.  A Boy and His DC-700XE

20.  Surviving the Spiderbites

21.  A Spell With No Name

22.  Princess Quasar Caterpillar and the Magic Bell

23.  Down By the River

24.  Out of Business

25.  Lake House Fever

26.  Doop-Doop

27.  The Ponyhead Show

28.  The Curse of the Blood Moon

Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next episode where Star and Tom seem to drag their feet in breaking up, and when trouble in Mewni arises, Star and the gang have to turn to Janna to help go back there.

If you would like to check out other Star vs the Forces of Evil reviews on this blog, click here for the guide made especially for them.